Welcome to your biggest 180 in the Tulane football program (and excuse the pun, tackle Kenny Welcome).

“The most improved position on the football team is defensive tackle,” Tulane coach Curtis Johnson said at the end of last week. “I thought last year it was our worst position.”

Chris Davenport, a 23-year-old nose tackle transfer from LSU, instantly improved this unit when he arrived in January. But it’s really what he has done since spring, when he was held out significantly with an ankle injury, that Davenport has affected real change in the unit.

“Davenport gives you kind of a little bit of an edge and he rubs off on other guys,” defensive coordinator Jon Sumrall said. “His enthusiasm, his attitude is contagious. He’s not just a good player, but he’s a good person and he’s fun to be around and he practices hard, he plays hard but he also knows how to have fun.

"He’s good for our group. You always hope when you get a new guy -- especially one that only has one year left – that he helps the group and doesn’t hurt the group," Sumrall said. "He’s coming in and he’s helping the younger guys and everyone in our positional group each and every day. I’ve been very pleased with everything he has done ever since spring practice ended. At that point, he kind of flipped a switch on getting his weight down and working on the little things that we saw he needed to improve on and he’s really done a nice job.”

Unquestionably, he is the best tackle of the bunch. The biggest task is finding the right combinations to play alongside him and the right guy to spell him. Every player listed at nose tackle will also play 3-technique, Sumrall said. Julius Warmsley, who also plays end, Tanzel Smart and Kenny Welcome are the best 3-techniques available. Smart and Welcome are also good at nose tackle. Smart could easily back up Davenport as could Corey Redwine.

When asked who his top two tackles are, Sumrall said, “There’s not two, that’s the thing. It’s five or maybe six. It really is. Some guys were with the ones and the next day, you’re with the twos. It happened today. Guys who went with the 1’s on Saturday were with the 2’s today and it’s not just because of what happened (in the scrimmage) but it was because I want to see as many groupings together.

"I want guys to get comfortable playing with different people next to them," he added. "I don’t want a guy, 'Well, hang on, I haven’t played with him.' I want all four of them to play with everybody. I don’t know who we are starting Jackson State. We are just practicing each and every day.”

Welcome is clearly one of the top choices at both tackle spots. “I feel like the coaches expect a lot out of me being a leader on and off the field so off the field has led into my play on the field,” he said.

All these guys will play – probably fairly evenly through the fall.

Outlook

Last week, Davenport motioned his teammates up to the line of scrimmage for a goal-line stand situation. He pointed to the offensive side and said – a G-rated version here -- "We get these guys now.” The response from his teammates was visible.

They respond to his energy and determination and feed off his high motor in one-on-one drills with the offensive line – an exercise in Davenport making the offensive linemen look silly at times during camp. But he is just that much older than most of his teammates and that much of an impact player.

He won’t be an every-down player – he is older and the biggest guy on the team as well. But he is a favorite among his teammates. “I love him. Chris is a fun guy to be around,” Welcome said. “I love playing out on the field with him. He can get along with anybody. When we went to a restaurant … last week, he was in there singing and dancing with everybody. He gets along with everybody.”

This defensive line across the board could be strengthened again when LSU transfer Jeremy Peeples joins the group. Peeples should be able to enroll in Tulane soon and then get clearance from the NCAA.

Welcome said that is a welcome thing – along with Davenport and Tyler Gilbert, who also transferred in recently.

“It’s definitely is new (to get all these transfers in), but we need all the help we can get. We need at least 10, 12 guys who can play and not have a drop off when your starters come off the field,” Welcome said.